A Meadow Full Of Oak Trees

Chapter Fourteen: For Definite This Time.

Harley's PoV

Someone's shaking my shoulder and saying my name so I crack my eyes open to see Tom stood over me, "Tom what on earth do you want at six in the morning?" I say.
"Some couple are here looking for Oakley."
I think for a couple of seconds as to who this might be and can only come up with her parents. Groaning I get out of bed and say to Tom, "Stall them for five minutes. I'll go get Oakley."
He nods before heading back and soon enough I can hear him chatting with them.
I throw on a shirt before sneaking through the kitchen and up to the roof, knowing that's where she's been sleeping since our argument. I've been ignoring her partially but I should probably stop, I miss sleeping next to her and holding her hand and the taste of her lips and her smile.
I walk onto the roof and see her there as always curled up peacefully wrapped in blankets. I woke up one night and freaked out when I couldn't find her in the house so I'd gone up to the roof to cool down before going to look for her and saw her curled up under the stars. She'd looked so adorable and comfy I couldn't bring myself to move her.
I shake her shoulder and say "Oakley, you've got to wake up."
She groans and rolls over, "Toffee-Pop your parents are here. You need to wake up."
At the mention of her parents her eyes flick open but she makes no move to get up.
"I don't want to see them." She says simply.
"Well I think they want to see you. They looked anxious when I walked past." I explain.
She sighs, "Fine. But not for a few minutes. Can you lay here? I need a cuddle." She says and I comply, siting down and pulling her into me, my arms automatically wrapping around her waist and my chin resting on her shoulder.
"I missed this." She murmurs.
"I did too." And I take this as my opportunity to apologise, "Look I'm sorry for ignoring you for so long. I should have just accepted that you weren't/aren't ready to tell me and I didn't want to because, well I guess, you seemed angry and if I don't know what's going on, I can't help you. And that kills me Oakley. Knowing you're in pain and I can't do anything about it."
She turns around to face me and says "I promise I will tell you. Just not right now. I've got to figure out how. But I forgive you." She says before pressing those apple tasting lips to mine in a gentle kiss.
"Now come on, we've got to go face my parents." She stands up to reveal that she's wearing a pair of short jersey shorts that are mostly obscured by a sweatshirt that I realise is mine but I don't comment on it. It looks better on her.
She smiles at me and at that precise moment he sun shines behind her framing her with rays of sunlight. I quickly take a photo on my phone making her laugh, "Good angle?" She asks.
"Always." I reply before taking her hand and heading downstairs.

Oakley's PoV

As we enter the living room I see Theodore and Emma day on the sofa, Emma's hand snaked around my dads arm and their hands entwined.
I roll my eyes at them before gripping Harley's hand tighter. He sits down on the armchair that's free before pulling me down to sit on his lap. Instinctly my legs curl up and my hands fiddle with his fingers.
An awkward silence settles on the air. Then Emma blurts out "Oakley are you okay?"
I nod my head.
"Oakley did Harley convince you to do this? Did he force you into it?" Theodore asks.
"NO! Why would you think that? Harley has been nothing but supportive and loving. Yes he offered me a place to stay when I couldn't bare to stay at the house but I chose, me, I chose to stay here with my boyfriend who wouldn't force me to do anything."
Theodore looks shocked at my outburst but doesn't say anything in return.
Emma speaks again, "Oakley why did you leave honey?"
"One, don't call me honey. You don't have the right. Two, Because you two were busy sucking each other's faces off and forgot to clean the house and so I did it. Every room except yours, you remember that? Or not? Because we had a whole coversation and then I came here. But apparently you don't remember it because otherwise you would have known I was here. And the Oxford gala? When I learned you told the entire household about Seren. Because you didn't think to ask if I was okay with it? Didn't stop to think that I maybe didn't want everyone to know my personal story."
I breathe heavily nuzzling my head into Harley's neck his steady heartbeat calming my own.
Emma looks shocked once again at my outburst but I just close my eyes and say coldly "I think you should leave."
But my dad stands up and says "No. We will not be leaving young lady. Because you have no right to tell me not to share your story because I am your father. I am allowed to tell whomever I please. And Emma and I are in love so forgive us for kissing. And three it's my house you didn't have to clean it. So you young lady have no right to accuse me of this." His voice raises with every sentence and then he raises his hand in the air as though he's going to strike me but as he brings it down Harley catches his wrist and with a steel voice says "Leave. Right now. You will not hit Oakley. You know where the door is. Please let it hit you on the way out."
Theodore glares at him but walks towards the door with Emma in tow. I collapse against Harley's chest, his arms wrapping around my shoulders.
"Call in sick today?" He asks and I nod my head before drifting back to sleep.
I wake up a few hours later and turn over to find a cold bed. I blink to check I'm not dreaming but still see an empty bed. I quickly get dressed and pad barefoot into the kitchen to see Harley stood humming to the radio and shaking his hips as he cooks something. I take a seat at the breakfast bar silently as smirk as he starts singing and moving his hips even more.
"Having fun there?" I say and he jumps round eyes wide.
"How long were you watching?" He asks cautiously.
"Cute butt." Is all I say in return with a smile.
He groans turning back to the food.
We spend the day lounging around the house until at lunchtime Harley goes while I'm laying on his chest, "Has he done it before?"
I know exactly what he's talking about but I say "Done what?"
"Don't mess with me Oakley. Has he tried to hit you before?"
I whisper so quiet I barely even hear myself "Yes."
"Yes?!" Harley exclaims.
"But for different purposes. Not to hurt me. Well to hurt me but that's different. That was training."
And I know as soon as the words slips out of my mouth I know I'm going to have to explain a lot sooner than I wanted too.
"Oakley." Harley practically growls at me, "What do you mean, training?"
I sit up and move to the armchair steeling myself for rejection after this conversation.
Harley looks at me with anger in his eyes and so I take a breath.
"My dad was an assassin."
Harley's eyes widen but before he can say anything I continue.
"He was called Claw. He got requests and he would do extensive background checks and if they were a good person he wouldn't kill them, he's stage killing them, take the money and then kill the person who requested it. Then if they were bad he'd just kill them and take the money. He stopped when he found me."
"Found you?" Harley says.
"Yeah. I'm adopted. But no one knew my parents. So technically I was just taken and called Theodore's daughter. I became heir to the company and he swore never to lie to me. And he didn't for a really long time. If he did something he would explain why and what he did. But as Claw he made some enemies and if someone found out his real identify, he didn't want me to be unprepared so he put me through training. I know ten different languages, I'm trained in all types of martial arts, I can knofe throw accurately from up to a hundred metres away from my target and I can kill someone in one hundred and one ways. I'm also trained in gun use, long range and short range and I can cover my tracks and I could live in the wild for up to three months if I had to. We would spend hours and hours in a training ring, learning to use different weapons and how to use mundane objects to kill someone as well. And I had a lot of broken bones in my childhood. My classmates thought I was clumsy. I'm also trained in lying. And picking up on other people's tells which makes quite good at poker and their weaknesses. I spent my summer holidays and winter holidays alone in the wild learning how to survive. I rememeber once, I was out there for the summer holidays and I was wandering, trying to find some water and I stumbled across a meadow full of roses and poppies and daisies but growing fifty feet high in the middle of the field were about a hundred oak trees." By this point I've stood up and am pacing about the room while explaining, refusing to meet Harley's eyes.
"That's what I mean by training."
I stand in the middle of the room now, still refusing to meet Harley's eyes. He says in a bitter voice "So you're dad hit you to train you to fight back?"
"Yes." I squeak out.
"And if you wanted to you could kill me right now."
"Yes but I would never..."
"But you could?" He says cutting me off.
I finally gather the strength to look up and meet his eyes, and all I see is pain and anger. I take a shaky breath.
"Are you angry?" I ask him.
"Angry? Oakley, of course I'm angry..." and that's all I hear. I don't bother to listen to the rest of it, I run into his room and grab my training bag with my knives in it and then sprint out the house. Running and running and running.
I refuse to cry and so instead I just run. I run, not caring that I'm barefoot not caring that my feet are bleeding, just running. I eventually stop as night starts to fall and look up to see where I am.
And I the meadow full of oak trees that I found so long ago. I wander to the largest one, standing at over 60ft tall and I start climbing up, using the lower branches once I get far enough up the trunk to help me climb.
I reach the one thing I never told anybody about. Not even Cass.
My treehouse.
I built over the six weeks when I first found the meadow, i used it to store all my food so that other predators wouldn't take it and high enough in the tree so that it was concealed by the leaves of the tree.
It's got a basket to pull food up with and supplies up here. A bed of leaves and moss with a view out over the tree tops. I sling my bag on the ground and sit on the viewing platform with my legs dangling off the edge. Just watching the stars burn.